Black Sox Scandal

The Black Sox Scandal took place around and during the play of Major League Baseball's 1919 World Series. Eight members of the Chicago White Sox were banned for life from baseball for intentionally losing games, which allowed the Cincinnati Reds to win the World Series. The conspiracy was the brainchild of White Sox first baseman Arnold "Chick" Gandil, who had longstanding ties to petty underworld figures. He persuaded Joseph "Sport" Sullivan, a friend and professional gambler, that the fix could be pulled off. New York gangster Arnold Rothstein supplied the money through his lieutenant Abe Attell, a former featherweight boxing champion.

Gandil enlisted several of his teammates, motivated by a dislike of club owner Charles Comiskey (whose miserliness they resented) to implement the fix; Comiskey had developed a reputation for underpaying his players for years (under the MLB reserve clause, players either had to take the salary they were offered, or couldn't play Major League Baseball, as they were property of the original team, and no other team was allowed to sign them). All of them were members of a faction on the team that resented the more straight-laced players on the squad, such as second baseman Eddie Collins, a graduate of Columbia College of Columbia University, catcher Ray Schalk, and pitcher Red Faber. By most contemporary accounts, the two factions almost never spoke to each other on or off the field, and the only thing they had in common was a resentment of Comiskey.

Starting pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Claude "Lefty" Williams, outfielder Oscar "Happy" Felsch, and shortstop Charles "Swede" Risberg were all principally involved with Gandil. Third baseman Buck Weaver attended a meeting where the fix was discussed, but decided not to participate. He was later banned with the others for knowing of the fix but not reporting it. Although he hardly played in the series, utility infielder Fred McMullin got word of the fix and threatened to report the others unless he was in on the payoff. As a small coincidence, McMullin was a former teammate of "Sleepy" Bill Burns, who had a minor role in the fix. Both played for the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League. Star outfielder "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was also mentioned as a participant, though his involvement is disputed.

Stories of the Black Sox scandal have usually included Comiskey as a villain, focusing in particular on his intentions regarding a clause in Cicotte's contract that would have paid Cicotte an additional $10,000 bonus for winning 30 games. According to Eliot Asinof's account of the events, Eight Men Out, Cicotte was "rested" for the season's final two weeks after reaching his 29th win, presumably to deny him the bonus. However, the record is perhaps more complex. Cicotte won his 29th game on September 19, had an ineffective start on September 24, and was pulled after a few innings in a tuneup on the season's final day, September 28 (the World Series beginning 3 days later). However, the allegation is probably substantiated in reference to the 1917 season, when Cicotte won 28 games before being benched.